# a. Extracts from an article in "Le Temps" "Constitutionalists and Socialists"
# Source: Lenin Miscellany XVI, p. 242

TO AN
U N F I N I S H E D
N O T E
( " V A L U A B L E
A D M I S S I O N S " )

au lendemain même de l'oukase qui l'élève aux fonctions de pre­
mier-ministre il prend son point d'appui là où M. Bouliguine ne 
rencontrait que résistance et qu'opposition: il recherche l'alliance 
des constitutionnalistes de Moscou. M. Sh. Lvov, Kokoschkine, A. Go­
lovine, appelés au conseil, sont les premiers voyageurs qui pro­
fitent du rétablissement de la circulation sur le chemin de fer Ni­
colas pour gagner SP-bg. M. Ghipof reçoit l'offre d'un porte­
feuille. M. Struve... quitte Paris...
... Ces avances empressées au parti radical n'ont d'abord ren­
contré que scepticisme ...
... Le pas franchement fait dans la direction des constitution­
nalistes, les gages qui leur sont offerts, ne désarment pas leur hos­
tilité, mais affaiblissent pourtant leur opposition. La plupart d'entre 
eux — M. Struve est de ce nombre — répugnent à la coopération 
que les chefs socialistes ont eu l'habileté de leur imposer lors de 
la crise, et qu'ils continuent de leur offrir pour l'avenir. Ceux-là 
tracent une ligne de démarcation bien nette entre le champ de leur 
activité réformatrice et celui de revendications ouvrières; leur pro­
bité politique ne peut que prendre l'éveil d'un quiproquo qui tend 
à les évincer de la scène au profit d'acteurs turbulents, toujours 
prêts a passer au drame et résignés d'avance à des dénouements 
sanglants. Ces constitutionnalistes purs placent l'ouvrier russe sur 
l'alignement du paysan, quand il s'agit du dénombrement politique 
général et de la distribution des droits communs. Ces droits une 
fois acquis — et ils sont tous près de l'être — le second objet de 
leurs préoccupations ne serait pas encore la solution de la question 
sociale, mais bien de la question agraire, qui s'impose à eux de par 
la prépondérance numérique de 80 millions de paysans malheureux 
sur 5 millions seulement d'ouvriers mécontents. Ce programme lé­
gèrement atténué, ou simplement divisé en autant de parties qu'il 
se pourra, pour les résoudre l'une après l'autre, au jour le jour, 
paraît pouvoir devenir celui du comte Witte.
L'avenir dira si les zemstvos consentent de leur côté à un ar­
rangement amiable et s'ils acceptent le patronat politique offert avec 
tant d'empressement à leurs leaders par le président du conseil. 
Nul doute que le congrès nouveau, dont l'ouverture est annoncée 
pour le 19 à Moscou, ne doive inscrire cette question capitale à 
son ordre du jour. Nul doute non plus que dès à présent, l'éveil 
des forces réactionnaires et les collisions violentes entre les ban­
des rouges et les bandes noires signalées le 1 nov. ici même, à

L E N I N M I S C E L L A N Y
Moscou, à Kiev et partout, ne soient pour les réformateurs pres­
sés un utile avertissement. On ne saurait, du jour au lendemain, 
constituer un peuple si longtemps étranger à toutes les libertés ; on 
ne saurait détacher de l'autocratie une masse nationale qui n'a ja­
mais eu pour credo politique que l'amour de son souverain. Ces 
propositions évidentes aux yeux des tiers, mais trop souvent oubliées 
par les acteurs dans l'ardeur de la lutte, viennent d'être démont­
rées à nouveau par une foule réfractaire aux bienfaits constitu­
tionnels. Rappelée par elle a l'ordre, remise en face de ces vé­
rités élémentaires, l'opposition accordera peut-être au comte Witte 
le répit dont il a besoin pour former autour de lui une concen­
tration d'opinion et pour marquer sous les couleurs nationales, à 
mi distance de l'étendart dynastique et du drapeau rouge, une po­
sition de juste milieu.»
(End of correspondence.)
[Translation.]
"Le Temps," November 11. Letter from special correspondent 
from SPb. of November 5, very instructive. Heading: "Constitutionalists 
and Socialists."
It is difficult to get one's bearings in the midst of the storm, the 
correspondent begins, but-------
"One circumstance stands out clearly. This is the purely socialist 
character of the agitation that preceded the granting of the Manifesto 
and that followed the Manifesto. Red banners, singing of the Mar­
seillaise, revolutionary speeches,—we have seen and heard nothing 
else. It is true that the people have won a great constitutional victory, 
but they owe this victory to the appearance on the scene and mobil­
ization of socialist forces. The railroad strike and the general halt 
of economic life accomplished more for the victory in one week than 
all six months of efforts by the Moscow constitutional party.
"This unexpected impetus revealed the hidden forces of the party, 
showing such solidity of its organization and such firm determination 
to employ all means at its disposal, the likes of which no one had 
suspected... this fact especially underscores the necessity of dealing 
a strong blow at the left, if the ruling spheres wish to remain in 
power. The Russian government understood this, and Count Witte 
understood it even better, who on the very day after the decree 
placing him in the post of premier-minister, began to seek support 
where Bulyguin encountered nothing but resistance and hostility, i.e., 
began to seek alliance with the Moscow constitutionalists. Messrs. 
Lvov, Kokoshkin, and A. Golovin, summoned to the council, were 
the first passengers who took advantage of the resumption of traffic 
on the Nicholas Railroad to depart for Petersburg. M. Shipov is 
offered a portfolio. M. Struve... leaves Paris...
... The pressing advances made to the radical party were at first 
met with skepticism...
... The concessions openly made to the constitutionalists, the guar­
antees provided to them, all of this does not diminish their hostile 
disposition, but nonetheless weakens their opposition. The majority of 
them, including M. Struve, are opponents of the collaboration which 
the socialist leaders managed cleverly to impose upon them at the 
beginning of the crisis and which they continue to offer to continue 
in the future. They draw a sharp line between the sphere of their 
reformist activity and the sphere of workers' demands; their political 
integrity compels them to be wary of any misunderstanding that might 
lead to their being driven from the stage by restless actors, always 
ready to turn to drama and already resigned to bloody denouements. 
These pure constitutionalists, in general political terms and on the 
question of the distribution of common rights, place the Russian 
worker on the same footing as the peasant. After the acquisition of all 
these rights,—and we are on the eve of this,—their next task would 
be the solution not of the social question, but of the agrarian ques­
tion, which confronts them because of the numerical superiority of 80 
million unfortunate peasants over 5 million discontented workers. This 
program in a somewhat attenuated form, or rather divided into several 
parts for gradual implementation in practice, could apparently become 
the program of Count Witte as well.
The future will show whether the zemstvos on their side will agree 
to a friendly arrangement and will accept the political patronage so 
warmly offered to their leaders by the chairman of the council. There 
is no doubt whatever that the awakening of reactionary forces and the 
sharp clashes between the bands of reds and blacks that took place on 
November 1 here, in Moscow, Kiev, and many other places, will serve 
as a useful warning to overly hasty reformers. One cannot in a single 
day accustom to the constitution a people to whom all freedoms have 
been so long alien; one cannot tear away from the autocrat a national 
mass that has never had any other political creed but love of its 
sovereign. All this is truth evident to an outside observer, but often 
forgotten in the heat of struggle by those in action, demonstrated anew 
now by a people that resists all the benefits of the constitution. Per­
haps the opposition, whom this people calls to order and who now 
stand face to face with these elementary truths, will give Count Witte 
the respite he needs to create around him a concentration of opinion 
and under the banner of the national flag to occupy the golden mean 
between the dynastic standard and the red banner."
(End of correspondence.)

b.
V A L U A B L E A D M I S S I O N S.

Conservative European bourgeoisie, in evaluating recent events in 
Russia, sometimes makes extremely valuable admissions. Here, for 
example, is an extremely instructive letter from a special Petersburg 
correspondent of the newspaper Le Temps of November 5 [October 23]. 
It is headed: "Constitutionalists and Socialists." The author begins by 
pointing out how difficult it is during a political storm to clearly dis­
cern the position and action of various forces. Something, however, has 
already become clear:
"One circumstance stands out clearly. This is the purely socialist 
character of the agitation that preceded the granting of the Manifesto 
(October 17), and that followed the Manifesto. Red banners, singing 
of the Marseillaise, revolutionary speeches,—we have not seen and 
heard anything else. It is true that the people have won a great con­
stitutional victory, but... (this remarkable 'but'!)... but they owe this 
victory to the appearance on the scene and mobilization (déploiment) 
of socialist forces. The railroad strike and the general halt of economic 
life accomplished more for the victory in one week than all six months 
of efforts by the Moscow constitutional party.